The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-03-19
work abide which he hath built there

"wOrk abide which he hath built there
''upon, he shall receive reward. II
'any mans work be burned, lie shall
''suffer loss Il Cor. iii.il3, 15).
Therefore our God is consuming
fire in the sense in which we have
'taken the word and thus be enters in
las 'refner's fire. to refine the ra-
''tional nature, which has been filled
with the lead of wickedness, and to
''free it from the other impure materi-
''als which adulterate the natural gold
cor silver, so to SPEAK, of the soul.
"And in like manner, flyers of fire. are
''said to be before God, who will thor
'oughly cleanse away the evil which is
''intermingled Throughout the whole
''sOul. But these remarks are sufli-
''cieut il answer to thesassertior that
"thus they were made TO give express
''sion to the erroneous opinion that God
''will come down bearing fire like tor
''turer.' - And now t@the final cita-
ton, the most PRONOUNCED of all. In
Book ", Chapter XCIN is found the
following: Nor will Hovidence ever
abandon the whole for although it
''shall become more wicked, owing to
1.-the sin of the rational being which is
"a portion Of the whole he makes ar
''rangements to purify Y, and after a
''time to bring back thegwhole to him
self
Thus have been viewed few Of Ori-
gems expressions. What is to be said
in regard to them? Are they suhstan-
tiative of the claimed Upiversalism OF
Origen, Or not ? This much evinces
itself as certain, the great Church
Father did not believe ID endless pun
ishment,-while annihilation is out of
the question for. in keeping with the
justice and goodness of God, he man
ifestly believed all punishment, no mat
ter by what name called, s'eternal fire. D
or what not, is corrective, healing, pu-
rifying, administered with kindness
and for the good Of the one being pun
ished. This unequivocally precludes
all possibility of the maintenance Of the
doctrine of endless woe. Hence, this
being 50, he must have, as his writings
clearly indicate, been pronounced Uni
versalist. And, be it observed, his ar
o,,poa onto oro not founded IN o,,1r M q ro
hypothesis, but upon an openly asserted
and firmly established belief which ne
sustains constantly by the holy Script
ures as he interprets them
Should objection be mads to the cita-
tions which have been made from, "On
the principles, on Che gfo1nd f15t t7g
work as we have it has been handed
down, in greater part, in the Latin of
Rutinus, whom Jerome accuses ''of un-
faithfulness as an interpreter, there
still remain those of Against CELSIUS, :"
against which there is no such accusa-
tiOn, and which was written in the old
age of Origen, and is composed" as
Bishop Coke writes, with great care :;
while it abounds with proofs of the
widest erudition,n
Confronted by such positive evidences
to the contrary, as shown in the above
quotations from Origen, how can any
one feel warranted in asserting that he
only had dim hope" of universal sal
vation, and that this hope was only
hypothetical Were one holding the
views Of Origen to day, to apply for ad-
mission into the ministry of the M. E
Church, and on the strength of the cita-
tions that have been gone over, in their
full connections, would such be consid-
cred sufficient and substantial evidences
Of his sound orthodoxy, and gain him
admission ? | think not. He would
promptly be adjudged to be, just what
he would be, a-dyed-in-the, wool Uni
versalist; and told promptly that he
was seeking admission into the wrong
ministry that, by his theology, he be-
longed with the despised heretics
Again. Imagine the Prudential Com
mittee Of the A. B. c. F. M, recon-
mending to its Board for appointment
as missionary to India, brother whose
soundness in orthodoxy, especially in
reference Ito probation after death"
was based on utterances like those of
Origen,-On Origen's doctrine? But
such an event is beyond all imagination.
The idea is ridiculous.
And so, to the reader, is left the de-
cision ON the plain, honest evidences
herein brought forward Was Origen a
Uniyersalist, or not